There are numerous applications that can benefit from analyzing demographic data as a function of geography. For instance, a company selling goods in a particular geographic region may be interested in locating other geographic regions having similar demographic make-ups. There are currently many databases that include such information. For instance, census databases are available that provide various demographic values broken down by geographic region (e.g., zip codes).
Unfortunately, such databases can be difficult to navigate since they often have many data dimensions beyond the geographic component. Most software programs for exploring such data rely on the user entering explicit queries, that is, searching the database according to an explicitly specified set of criteria (e.g., find me all zip codes having a median household income in range x-y, in which the median age is above z, the female population is above n %, etc.). Constructing explicit queries can be difficult and time-consuming, particularly where the user may “tweak” different demographic values to “zero in” on relevant information (e.g., now find me some similar zip codes in which the medium age is a little lower and the property taxes are a little higher). In such cases, the user essentially has to start all over, and construct and perform an entirely new query.
Moreover, such solutions do not provide a simple approach for locating geographic regions that are demographically “similar” overall. For instance, a typical database may have 10-20 different data dimensions representing different demographic categories. While putting together a query to find regions that share a few similar demographics would be relatively straight forward, crafting explicit queries that take into account all of the available data dimension to locate demographically similar regions would be extremely complex and time consuming.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system that can allow a user to analyze demographic data among different geographic regions in a flexible and interactive manner.